Vote: Amazon vs. Hachette

The dispute between Amazon.com and the book publisher Hachette puts Seattle in an uncomfortable position. On the one hand, America’s second most literate city loves reading and independent bookstores. This progressive city can’t be happy with the conditions that many Amazon warehouse workers face. On the other, we are heavily indebted to Jeff Bezos for putting the giant’s headquarters in South Lake Union with the potential for a stunning 40,000 high-paid jobs.

The reader should know that Hachette is not my publisher and my novels are carried on Amazon as well as in bookstores. As they would say in the South, my dog’s sitting on the porch (but he’s uncomfortable).

Unlike a monopoly, which occurs when a seller of goods has the power to unlawfully raise prices of what it sells, a monopsony occurs when a buyer of goods has the power to unlawfully lower the prices of what it buys. Each violates antitrust laws: As the Supreme Court has long recognized, they both result in a misallocation of resources that harms consumers and distorts markets.